Mesopotamia & Egypt
Compared
Block – World Civilizations
Mrs. Petras
Differences - Political
• Mesopotamia divided into citystates
• Egypt has a Bureaucracy
• Egypt united into a kingdom Early
on 3100 BCE by King Narmer
(31 dynasties)
Differences cont.
• Mesopotamian kings were considered
to be representatives of the gods
• Egyptian kings were considered gods
– pharaohs (gov’t was a theocracy)
– Kings had eternal life force Ka
Sim - Political
•
•
•
•
Empire building
Standing Army
Dynastic
Religion played a role in politics
Economic Differences
• Egypt valued luxury items such as
gold, spice, and incense
• Egypt traded corn, Wheat, cloth,
Papyrus
• Mesopotamia needed day to day
items – traded grain, oils and textiles
for timber, precious metals and
stones
Economic - Similarity
• Crops were barley, wheat and dates
• Both were agricultural
• Specialized labor
• Traded with surrounding areas
Economic Similarity
•
•
•
•
Both needed Timber
Taxes paid to the government
Slavery
Rivers used for trade and
agriculture which caused cultural
diffusion
Social Similarity
• Social Hierarchy – However, order
was different
Kings, queen, and royal family
Upper class – wealthy landowners,
government officials, priests and army
commanders
Social Similarities
• Next middle class – merchants and
artisans
• Lowest class (majority of society) –
peasant farmers and laborers
• Finally Slaves
Social Sim. Cont.
• In order to rise in society – Need to
be able to read and write
• Patriarchal
• Women – could own and trade
property
Social differences
• Women had more rights in Egypt
– Female rulers – Queen Hatshepsut
– Could propose marriage
– Seek divorce
– If granted divorce, she would be entitled
to one-third of the couple’s property
Cultural Similarity
• Both polytheistic
– Re, the sun god, and Osiris, god of the
dead
– Isis – ideal wife and mother
• Buried in tombs with many of their
possessions
Cultural Differences
•
•
•
•
Egyptian view of life – positive
Egyptians believed in afterlife
Believed to be judged for their deeds
Anubis, god and guide for the
underworld
• Large tombs
• mummification
Cultural Differences
• Each city-state in Sumer had their
own god that was worshiped by its
people
• Unlike Egyptians did not think they
had any control over their lives
Intellectual - Similarity
• Monumental architecture: Ziggurats
and Pyramid
• Writing system: Cuneiform and
Hieroglyphics
• Literature: Epic of Gilgamesh and
Book of the Dead
• Calendar
Intellectual Similarity cont.
• Writing done on stone and clay
• 365 days
– 12 months and 5 day of holiday
• Geometry
Intellectual Differences
• Later writing on papyrus
• Literature: Egypt happy (first love
poems) and Mesopotamia gloomy
• 1st to use stone columns in homes,
palaces and temples
• Advance medicine
Intellectual Differences Cont.
•
•
•
•
•
Pulse checking
Set broken bones
Treatments for wounds and fevers
Surgery
Arts – Makeup
Environment Differences
• Mesopotamia: Open - invaded often
• Egypt: protected by sea and rivers
• Nile could be predicated but Tigris
and Euphrates could not
• SAME: DESERT
• Settled by fertile waterways